Stocking-supporting clasp



v E. F. BARRI. STOCKING SUPPORTING CLASP. APPLICATION FILED N0y.10. 1919.

1,363,950. Patented Dec..28,1920.

17 ,1 WITNESS:

-m--. 4 INVENTOR. ii BY fi'mmwj'i'fiarfv x w-w 0 a ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STOCKING-SUPPORTING CLASP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

Application filed November 10, 1919. Serial No. 336,840.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMMA F. BAnRr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and btate of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Stocking-Supporting Clasps, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my present invention is the provision of a stocking-supporting clasp possessed of the capacity of strongly gripping a stocking throughout a broad portion thereof, without liability of tearing or wearing or otherwise injuring the stocking, and without likelihood of the stocking being casually released from the clasp when the wearer is in a seated position, and this notwithstand- 7 ing the fact that the clasp is susceptible of being expeditiously and easily engaged in proper manner with the stocking, and as readily disengaged therefrom when desired.

To the attainment of the foregoing, the invention consists in the improvement as hereinafter described and definitely claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, hereby made a part hereof:

Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating my novel clasp in use.

Fig. 2 is a perspective of the clasp.

Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are detail views of parts that enter into the construction of the clasp..

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section taken in the plane indicated by the line 8-8 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary perspective of an optional feature of construction that conduces to simplicity and strength and durability.

Similar numerals designate corresponding parts in Figs. 1 to 8, to which reference will first be had.

-' At 1 is a strip, preferably of webbing such as ordinarily used in stocking supporters, and at 2 is a loop-link, secured through the medium of a buckle 3 in the bi'ght 1 at the end of the strip 1.

Connected to the loop-link 2 is a flexible element 5 to suspend the base 6, hereinafter described; the said flexible suspending element 5 being preferably formed of thin and strong textile material, and being by preference comparatively narrow, Figs. 1 and .2.

Connected to the loop-link 2, preferably through the medium of a barrel 7 disposed in the upper looped portion of the flexible suspending element 5, is one end of a swinging bail, best shown in Fig. 3. In the present and preferred embodiment of my invention, the sald bail is transversely contracted adjacent to its inner end, as indicated by 8, and includes a broad and open body 9 the transverse end portion 10 of which is preferably, though not necessarily, corrugated, and the side portions 11 of which are inwardly deflected to a slight extent. For the sake of strength and durability, the contracted portion of the swinging bail is equipped with a sleeve 12 that incloses the neck portion of the bail.

For the sake of economy in manufacture, the base 6 is stamped from sheet-metal, Fig. 5, and is provided with slots 13 and 14, and also with apertures 15 and 16. The said slots 18 and 14 serve for the passage of the flexible suspending element 5, so that the base 6 is connected to said element 5 without the assistance of extraneous means, and at the same time a portion 17, Figs. 2 and 8, of the element 5 is arranged to be opposed to the inner side of the stocking 18; the element 5 being as stated of textile material, and the portion 17 thereof being for such reason not liable to wear or tear the stocklng.

At 19 is what I denominate the clamping portion of my improved clasp. The said clamping portion 19 is shown per so in Fig. 6, and is made up of a sheet-metal member 20, a strip of fiber 21, Figs. 6 and 7, and a spring strip 22, preferably of metal. The inner end of the sheet-metal member 20 is arranged close to the face of the base 6, and is provided with angularly disposed lugs 23, which are extended through the base apertures 15, and are clenched at the back of the base. The outer end portion of the sheetmetal member is comparatively deep, and includes a loop-shaped portion that forms a lip 21 spaced from the base 6 and the beforementioned textile portion 17 and a wall 25 shaped into lugs, Fig. 6, that are extended through the base apertures 16, and are riveted or upset at the back of the base, whereby the sheet-metal member 20 and the base 6 are strongly connected and fixed together of themselves. The fiber strip 21 is provided at 26 with lateral enlargements that rest alongside the side edges of the sheet-metal member 20, and project beyond the side edges of i tion of aflording friction grips. The arrangement of the said strip 21 relatively to the base 6 and sheet-metal member 20 will be clearly understood by comparison of Figs. 6 and 8, when it is stated that the intermediate portion of the strip 211. 0., the portion between the lateral enlargements 26, is opposed to the wall 25 of member 20, and is interposed between the lip 24 and the base 6. By virtue of this relative arrangement it will be observed that in the use of the clasp, it is the said intermediate portion of the strip 21 that cooperates with the bail portion 10 in the clasping of the stocking, and consequently the stocking is more or less cushioned by said intermediate portion of the strip 21, and cutting or tearing of the stocking at that point is practically elimi nated. From this it follows that the strip 21 constitutes a stocking protector in the sense that it is interposed between the metallic member 20 and those portions of the ball 9 that clamp the stocking against the clamping portion on the base 6, with the re? sult that injury to the stocking is practically precluded. Again it will be observed that in the use of the clasp, both the clamping portion on the base 6 and the bail 9 will be subject to upward pull, and consequently there will be no liability of the bail 9 becoming disengaged from the clamping portion on the body. When, however, the

wearer is in'a seated position, the said pull is not present. There is, however, no liability of the bail becoming casually disen gaged from the clamping portion at such time because of the friction between the strip 21 and the side portions 11 of the bail, due in part to the resiliency of the said strip 21 as will now be made clear. Interposed be tween the wall 25 of the sheet-metal member 20 and the end portions of the protective strip 21, Fig. 0, is the bowed spring strip 22, preferably of metal, that is riveted or otherwise fixed at 31 to the wall 25, and is provided at its ends with scroll portions 32, disposed in the bights of the loops formed by the strip 21. This will be appreciated as a highly advantageous relative arrangement, when it is stated that it leaves the end portions of the strip 21 free to play endwise, which conduces to the gripping and friction-creating eiliciency of the strip 21. It will be noticed, however, that notwithstand ing said capacity of the end portions of the strip 21 to play, there is no likelihood of the said strip 21. being accidentally released, inas much as the end portions of the strip 21 are interposed and confined between the face of the base 6 and the inner side of the wall of the sheet'metal member 20. It will also be appreciated that the scrolls 32 lend all of the resiliency that is required to the loops of the strip 21, so that the said loops, in cooperation with the side portions 11 of the bail 9, strongly hold the interposed portions of the stocking without any liability whatever of cutting or tearing or wearing the stocking, which is an important desideratum in the art.

An important feature of my invention resides in the employment of a flexible tapelike element 5 to efl ect connection between the base of the clamping portion on the one hand, and the suspending means 1 and the bail 9, on the other. This will be appreciated when it is stated that said connection permits of free endwise and canting movements of the base and its clamping portion relatively to the broad and open bail 9, so that in effecting connection of a stocking to the supporting means, the base and the clamping portion thereon may be arranged at the inner side of the stocking and the bail 9 at the outer side of the stocking, and then either the base and its clamping portion or the bail may be canted edgewise, so that first one portion of the stocking may be gripped between one loop of the strip 21 and the adjacent bail portion 1.1, and then another portion of the stocking may be gripped between the other loop of the strip 21 and the other bail portion 11 to be followed'by the gripping of a third portion of the stocking between the bail portion 10 and the intermediate portion of the protective strip 21, or, if preferred, the connection of the device to the stocking may be accomplished by first arranging the base 6 and the clamping portion thereon at the inner side of the stocking, andthe bail 9 at the outer side of the stocking, and then moving one of the said elements rectilinearly into engagement with the other, so that the stocking is gripped between the two elements at the three points named.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that by virtue of my novel clasp, no part of the stocking is clamped against a metallic part of the base or the clamping portion, and this is a highly important char-' acteristic peculiar to my novel clasp.

To disconnect my novel clasp from a stocking, it is simply necessary for the user to move either the base with the clamping portion thereon, or the bail, relatively to the other, until the clamping connection is broken, when the said elements may be readily separated for the withdrawal of the stocking from the same, or vice versa.

In Fig. 9 I illustrate an optional detail of construction, which has to do with the connection of the spring strip 22, and which is advantageous because in' conduces both to simplicity and strength. In' the said construction, the spring strip 22 is provided at 22 with an offset portion that is seated in loop 22 formed from the wall 25 of the me-- tallic member 20 and interposed between the outer arm of said loop and the wall 25, so

that when the said parts are subjected to pressure, the said ofl'set portion 22 of the spring will be strongly and permanently fixed between the arm of the loop 22" and the opposed wall 25, and this without the assistance of extraneous means.

It will further be gathered from the foregoing that all of the elements that enter into my novel clasp are susceptible of being economically produced in large quantities, with the result that it is feasible to place the clasp in the hands of the ultimate user at small cost.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. A clasp comprising a base, a clamping portion fixed to and extending from the face of the base and having a lip spaced from the face of the base, a protective strip having an intermediate portion disposed between the base and the lip and under the latter and also having end loopsextending beyond the ends of the lip at the side edges of the clamping portion and the side edges of the base, resilient means in said end loops of the protective strip, a flexible element to suspend the base, and a broad, open bail connected to the flexible element and having a transverse portion to cooperate with the intermediate portion of the protective strip and also having side portions to cooperate with the projecting end loops of said strip.

2. A clasp comprising a base, a clamping portion fixed to and extending from the face of the base and having a lip spaced from said base, a protective strip having an intermediate portion disposed between the base and said lip and under the latter and also having end loops beyond the side edges of the clamping portion, a spring connected with the clamping portion and having portions disposed in said end loops of the protective strip, and a broad, open bail connected to the flexible element and having a transverse portion to cooperate with said lip and also having side portions to cooperate with the projecting .end loops of the protective strip.

3. A clasp comprising a base, a clamping portion fixed to and extending from the face of the base and having a lip spaced from said base, a protective strip having an intermediate portion disposed between the base and said lip and under the latter and also having projecting end loops, beyond the side edges of the clamping portion, a spring connected with the clamping portion and having portions disposed in said end loops of the protective strip; said base having an aperture opposite the inner side of the lip, a flexible element to suspend the base, said element passed through said aperture and having a portion opposite the inner side of the lip, and a broad, open bail connected with the flexible element at a point remote from the base and having a transverse portion to cooperate with said lip and intermediate strip portion and also having side portions to cooperate with the projecting end loops of the strip.

l. In means for the purpose described, a strap, a flexible suspending element connected with said strap, a broad, open bail connected at one end to the strap adjacent to the flexible element connection and having a transverse outer end portion and also having side portions, an apertured base receiving and held to the flexible element, a clamping portion fixed with respect to and extending from the face of the base and having a lip spaced from the face of the base and arranged opposite the outer flexibleelement portion, a protective strip of fiber having an intermediate portion arranged between the lip and the face of the base under the lip and also having end loops, projecting beyond the side edges of the clamping portion and resilient means connected with the clamping portion and an ranged in the said loops of the protective strip.

5. The combination in a clasp, of a clamping portion, a protective strip carried thereby and having loops projecting beyond the side edges of the clamping portion, resilient means in said loops, and a bail to cooperate with the clamping portion and protective stri J.

6. The combination in a clasp, of a clamping portion, a protective strip carried thereby and having portions projecting beyond the side edges of the clamping portion, and a bail to cooperate with the clamping portion and protective strip.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

EMMA F. BARRI. 

